| Eat Your Dream Cake in Harlem |
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The award winning red velvet cake from Make My Cake in Harlem is the perfect dessert (or snack, breakfast, lunch, or dinner) for those who are tired of candy bars and Bryer’s. This amazing bakery developed out of a long tradition of baking in the Baylor family, with time-tested recipes and newer, more experimental delights. Before we get to the desserts, let me tell you a little bit about this amazing bakery. The family traces their baking lineage to Josephine Smith, ‘Ma Smith,’ who, with her family, moved from Mississippi to Harlem in the 1940’s, toting with her some promising baking techniques. She taught her daughter, JoAnn, how to bake like a Baylor, and JoAnn now runs the business with her children, each of whom has found a niche in the business. But the bakery is not a southern jem transplanted to Harlem. They do not appear southern. Being from the south, I am familiar with New Yorkers’ estrangement with our slow, simple hospitality. The Baylors are familiar with it as well, and have catered to your average New Yorker’s sense of urgency, outfitting the bakery with free wifi and a very cool design, while not omitting the hospitality. But we were talking about desserts, especially Make My Cake’s red velvet cake. That is, of course, the most important aspect of all bakeries. An often forgotten aspect of American desserts is the texture. Despite how good a Snickers bar tastes, it leaves the jaw sore from too much chewing. Chips Ahoy cookies are too damp or too dry. We often invest more time in the appearance of our celebratory cakes, rather than in the taste and texture. Now think of a souffle, so light it might collapse at any second, or crème brulee, with the creamest custard like texture. Make My Cake finally shows how an American cake should be textured – thick but soft, moist but neither too wet or dry. The first aspect of a red velvet cupcake that entices is the color. Whether dyed with food coloring or with the juice of beets, the rich scarlet is not only inviting, but also absolutely beautiful. A truly southern recipe, the cake is neither as densely flavored as chocolate or as saccharine as vanilla. Instead, the red velvet cake resides in between, with a thick texture and subtle sweetness. The white icing is a perfect topping, and is available at Make My Cake with or without pecans. The bakery does cakes for weddings, birthdays, and baby showers, as well as sweet treats for any old customer. They serve cheesecakes, pies, cupcakes, cobblers, and cookies – and, of course, milk or coffee to go with your dessert. Just to entice you – red velvet cupcakes, red velvet cheesecake, sweet potato cheesecake, sweet potato pie. Go there. Eat it. -Josh Fishbein
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